If you’re not prepared to try something new in the hope of making an improvement to your health, fitness and lifestyle you’re likely on the road to failure.
By failure in this case, I mean giving up completely.
That, I would hope you’d agree is the last thing you want.
So having a flexible approach (and open mind) to what you eat, how you train and your lifestyle habits is a key principle if you want long-term success.
What does long-term success look like for you?
Only you can really answer that in detail but some examples may include:
- A healthy, sustainable body weight and fat %
- The ability to move freely and take part in everyday activities
- Being able to socialise and have a good time with friends and family
- A set of lifestyle habits that are manageable in times of stress (i.e solid foundations)
When working with a new client, I always ask them what long-term success looks like to them.
- What do you feel like?
- What do you look like?
- Where are you?
- Who are you with?
- How are you spending your time?
I like to start with the end in mind and work backwards from there.
So know you know where you’re going, we need to assess where you are and then take an objective view on the difference.
Will the habits you have today, if carried out consistently for a sustained period of time take you closer to your goals?
You need to be really honest with yourself with that question…
Once you’ve done this then it’s time to make a plan, what can you commit to?
Depending on the level of motivation you have (or amount of pain you’re in with your current situation) will determine how many things to focus on to begin with.
More motivation (or pain), means you can be a little more aggressive with the changes.
In the longer term, you may only change one focus point at a time but in the short-term it’s ok to work on a few points simultaneously as some changes will be easier than others.
This is where trial and error is to be encouraged, make a plan, take action, review what worked well and what didn’t.
It’s perfectly fine to make mistakes, it’s how you recover from them that will determine your fate.
- Play around with food choices, what energises you? What makes you tired?
- Experiment with meal frequency, how many meals per day provides you with consistent energy, whilst staying within your overall calorie budget?
- Try different training programmes and how many times per week works best for you.
There’s no one-size-fits-all with this and we need to be ok with that.
Again, it’s ok to try something and it not to work out exactly how you expected.
If you are expecting that you just make one plan, how one set of thought processes and then you’re “set” forever, you are sadly mistaken.
Things will change as your life changes, the habits and routines you have a single 20 year old will likely be poles apart from the habits and routines you have as a 40 year old parent.
Let me finish by saying that your response when something doesn’t quite go to plan or work out is absolutely critical.
If you have the “fuck it, I will just start again Monday” mentality because things haven’t gone you’re way at the start of the week, you are in trouble…
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
Craig
Do you need confidential help with your health, fitness or nutrition? I have a range of services available, with Personal Training in my Private Gym in Manchester, also at your home or workplace in the surrounding areas. For clients further afield, I provide Online Personal Training, Nutritional Consultancy & Private Fitness Holidays.
